Leon Mund, a rabbi who acted as a teacher and counsellor in Montreal’s Orthodox Jewish community decades ago, has been acquitted on charges of sexual assault and sexual interference with a minor.
Mund had been living in Israel since 2002 before he was arrested on a warrant at Pearson Airport in Toronto in 2022.
In a decision released Wednesday, Quebec Court Judge Patricia Compagnone said credibility and reliability were the main issues in the case.
Both Mund and the lone complainant, who can’t be named due to a court-ordered publication ban, testified during the trial.
The complainant, who was a child at the time of the alleged offences, testified they were assaulted by Mund on one occasion in the back seat of his car on a street in Montreal’s west-central Cote-des-Neiges neighbourhood in the late 1990’s.
Inconsistencies in testimony
During his testimony, Mund categorically denied the allegations.
In her judgement, Compagnone said she didn’t doubt the sincerity of the complainant.
“The Court underlines that the complainant is convinced they were sexually assaulted by the accused. They genuinely believe that. And the court believes that they believe that,” she said.
But Compagnone noted several inconsistencies in the complainant’s testimony.
For example, as part of its case, the prosecution called the complainant’s spouse as a witness. The complainant testified they had told their spouse about the alleged assault six years ago.
The judgment notes there were inconsistencies between the complainant’s account of events and their spouse’s account, and that these inconsistencies “undermined the complainant’s credibility and reliability” as a witness.
“The court finds the accused’s denial of the charges to be likely, and that the Crown did not adduce evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he committed the charges laid against him,” Compagnone said.
In an email to CBC News, Mund’s lawyer, Jessy Héroux, said the justice system played its role.
“The judgment rendered clearly and unequivocally confirms what Mr. Mund claimed from the beginning: his innocence,” Héroux said.
He said the trial had been trying for Mund and his family, and that Mund was ready to return home to his loved ones and move on.
Complainant disappointed
In an interview Thursday, the complainant told CBC News they were disappointed with the decision.
“It was such a difficult process. We’re talking about four years of it being my focus — a lot of time, energy, work and emotions,” they said.
“I don’t regret coming forward. I stood up for myself and that was the goal,” they said.
The Crown prosecutor couldn’t be reached for comment.
The complainant told CBC News they were ready to move on, and they would be fine with the Crown choosing not to file an appeal in the case.